Puppy Linux Team

Puppy Linux team is you! Yes, you. No, this is not a joke.

If you are a member of the Puppy Linux community, then you are a member of the Puppy Linux Team. Membership is automatic. What you choose to do as a member is the Team is up to you. You can choose to just use Puppy Linux and do nothing else. That is fine. You can also choose to contribute back to Puppy Linux. That is also fine, but it is not a requirement.

Puppy Linux Team works on do-ocracy principle. Something will be done if any of the team members feel the itch to do that something.

Contributing back

There are many ways to contribute back what you receive from Puppy Linux.

If you are good at writing, help to write some documentation about Puppy Linux. Or help keeping this website current.

If you are good at arts, you can always contribute artworks (background pictures, icons, icon themes, colour themes, audio themes).

If you’re good at video publishing, help to create some sort of videos about Puppy Linux (marketing, inspirational, educational, etc) and upload it to common video sharing websites such as You Tube.

If you have some extra space in your server hosting, help to mirror Puppy Linux files.

If you’re good at troubleshooting, stand by in the forums and support people who ask for help.

If you’re good at coding, help to improve various programs used in Puppy Linux.

And so it goes. Whatever talent you have, there is always something that you can do to improve Puppy Linux and its community.

Yes, you are always invited. And you are always welcome.

Organisation Structure

There isn’t any.

Over the years, there have been calls to formulate a formal organisational structure. Barry has always been resistant to this; he always prefers the fluid nature of the hivemind of the community to direct the future of Puppy. This worked well when he was still in charge - he was the dictator and had the final say on what went in and what didn’t; in order word he brought order on the hivemind’s chaos.

You would expect that after he stepped down the community would explode with unrestrained chaos.

But it did not.

Barry left an important legacy to the community: The Puppy Linux build system known as “Woof” (and renamed to “Woof-CE” (Woof Community Edition) when it taken over by the community). A distribution that wishes to carry the name of “Puppy Linux” must be created from this build system. There is a lot flexibility in this build system; and developers and maintainers can even modify the process to suit their own - but for something to be called “Puppy Linux”, it must be built from Woof-CE.

Thus Woof-CE is the defining factor of Puppy Linux. Woof-CE is published out in the open, on github.com. Everybody can contribute it; and contribution that goes in to Woof-CE will automatically become a feature of future Puppy Linux.

In a way, Woof-CE played the same role as what Barry did in the past: which feature will make it into Puppy Linux, and which one will not.

Who then decides what goes into Woof-CE?

Stewards of the Puppy Linux

Despite the lack of organisational structure and the hivemind operations of the Puppy Linux Team, there still needs someone or two who are directly responsible for various practical and operational Puppy Linux activities. For example, someone needs to have control over the domain name and renew them when it is due. Someone needs to have control over the web server used to host puppy linux stuff. Someone needs to decide whether to accept proposed changes to Woof-CE. Etc, you get the point.

The people who are trusted to do these activities are called “stewards” of Puppy Linux. They hold the key for various operational activities. This is not a single person, there are different stewards for different activities.

Stewards come and go. Current stewards may have various reasons that prevent him or her continue with his/her task; or require lengthy time of absence; in this situation he/she will be replaced by someone who can be more responsive.

Stewards are not democratically elected. They are instead appointed by the existing stewards based on the revered do-ocracy principle. If you contribute a lot of things, expect that someday you will be asked to become a steward yourself. If you don’t, then don’t expect that making a lot of noises and demands will make you one.

List of current Puppy Linux stewards

Puppy Linux Master Steward - Mick Amadio (01micko). Role: Appoint which distribution is considered as “Official Release”. Also responsible for puppylinux.com domain as well as main Puppy Linux distribution site in ibiblio.org

Woof-CE stewards - they are the people who decides whether a proposed commit is accepted into Woof-CE. They usually hold commit rights to Woof-CE, although not all of committers are considered as Woof-CE stewards.